Random thought. In generations past, it was normal that the wife stayed home and took care of the house while the husband worked to earn money. The wife would cook most meals herself, maybe even grow a garden; she would let the kids out to play and when the husband came home he had a meal waiting for him. In today's world of equal rights, not that I am sexist, more and more women are entering the workplace along with their husbands, leaving the kids at daycare and leaving the job of cooking up to fast food joints way more than it ever was in past generations since both partners are too tired to cook when they get home. Are we the most over-weight country in the world because of the feminist movement? I don't think it is the main reason, but it is at least a contributing factor. I don't believe women should be "shown their place" or anything; I happen to think a woman has just as much right to equal pay and rights as a man does if she is equally qualified, and I think that if a woman wants to work and earn her own money, she has every right to do so as long as it is not detrimental to the family unit, but it was just a random thought I had. The "traditional family" is a very rare sight these days, maybe those women who work and make most of the money should make their husbands stay home and cook, or those men who make the most money should make their wives stay home and cook. Maybe then our kids will have greater access to fresh, home-cooked meals instead of processed fast food.

I think it has more to do with the way that the labor market has changed, mostly due to globalization.

Most households now need both parents to work in order to meet the same standard of living that a single working parent could have provided 50 years ago. Men or women doesn't really matter, it's about how much real income is brought into a household per person these days.

I think it has more to do with the way that the labor market has changed, mostly due to globalization.

Most households now need both parents to work in order to meet the same standard of living that a single working parent could have provided 50 years ago. Men or women doesn't really matter, it's about how much real income is brought into a household per person these days.

That is a good point. To achieve an "acceptable" standard of living for a family in today's world, it's very hard for one person to do it, which is probably a big reason that both parents have to work in a lot of families. They don't have the option of leaving one of the parents at the house to do things like cook, because then the bills aren't getting paid.

In my country, once the kids are old enough to go to school, most women go to work because they don't want to stay alone cooped up inside the house all day. And with labor being so cheap, most families hire a maid/nanny/cook to take care of all the housewifey duties.

Except you can make great home cooked meals after work, and probably more people have gardens today than back then, and you can get a much wider variety of fresh vegetables at the store anyway. As for kids, in general it's better for the kids development especially social, to in in a kindergarten or small daycare.

So no, this is not one of the reasons your nation is so overweight, it's mostly laziness.

Except you can make great home cooked meals after work, and probably more people have gardens today than back then, and you can get a much wider variety of fresh vegetables at the store anyway. As for kids, in general it's better for the kids development especially social, to in in a kindergarten or small daycare.

So no, this is not one of the reasons your nation is so overweight, it's mostly laziness.

Completely Agree, nothing but laziness

she has every right to do so as long as it is not detrimental to the family unit, but it was just a random thought I had.

I Just wanted to pick up the one part of your thoughts that could be seen as sexist (I don't think it is intentional however). Why can't the "man" cook the food? in an equal relationship where both partners work, why is it the womens job to do the cooking and not the mans? That in my opinion is not true equality but old school values plus a bit of modernism being molded into one.

Speaking from PURE experience, when I had my daughter I did work and my partner did stay at home (she had a few little jobs off and on but nothing serious). It was a decision made because we could (just about) afford to survive on my wages and give what we believed would be our daughters best chances of development by having her mother at home. Over time however, as HawkMan, as pointed out, my better half did decide to start working at a point where things like nursery and school could pickup the area's that allowed her to work.

Now my misses does do most of the cooking and cleaning however that is solely due to the fact she works in a school so has shorter days (so she can pickup our own daughter after school). However there are days where her school and my daughters have different days off and I will work from home or take a days leave and on those occasions I will try to ensure that food is cooked and ready at the appropriate time because I am in a better position to do so. I don't do it half as much as I should but I also do occasionally cook on weekends also because as much as my lazy ass hates, its an equal relationship and I try to do my share of the cooking, cleaning and whatever else household duties come up.

Yes we eat takeaways occasionally because we haven't done the shopping or we are too lazy to cook, but I would say that has absolutely nothing to do with my misses working and I support her in doing so. We know we can survive on my wages, we agreed when she started that if we saw a negative effect to our family then she would stop but we are better for her working because we can actually then afford to do the fun things in life - which also includes both me and my missses being able to be members of a local gym to improve our fitness.

we're fat because we're lazy.
One could suggest men were always lazy with food prep, as you stated the stay at home mom did all that stuff - but capitalism has effected everyone it seems and it don't matter the cost anymore as long as the moneys coming in.

Home-cooked meals don't have to take long. When I was at school my mom worked a 9 to 5, I got home around the same time. We always, always had home-cooked meals. Either she made it or I prepared something if I got home earlier. Or you prepare things in the weekend and freeze it.

The problem isn't that some people don't have the time, it's that they don't make the time.

I've been living on my own for just over a year. During that time, I found it difficult to find the motivation to cook because it would take me a while to make a big meal that only I was going to eat, and there would be so much left over that I would end up throwing quite a bit in the bin after a day or so. My kitchen wasn't exactly stellar either, so that also made me choose pre-made stuff over going to the lengths of cooking myself. (note: if friends were coming over it was a different matter, I didn't mind cooking then).

However, I recently moved in with a friend, and my mentality on a lot of things has drastically changed. He loves to cook himself (no, he doesn't jump in to the pot), and I am loving all the tips and tricks that he has picked up along the way. I'm now much more up for heading to the shops, grabbing some materials and going nuts in the kitchen.

I think if I were to have a family (or just more people to feed) I wouldn't mind cooking at all. After dealing with the end user all day it's almost relaxing to put some music on and cook a meal that people will enjoy.

Basically (in an attempt to link the above with the OP) I think laziness plays a bigger factor in home-cooked meals than gender does.

^ That too. While I'm on my own in my uni room I can hardly bring myself to cooking something proper. I do eat healthy, but it's mostly fruit and vegetables, and some whole-wheat bread. It's very hard and not very efficient to cook for one.

Except you can make great home cooked meals after work, and probably more people have gardens today than back then, and you can get a much wider variety of fresh vegetables at the store anyway. As for kids, in general it's better for the kids development especially social, to in in a kindergarten or small daycare.

So no, this is not one of the reasons your nation is so overweight, it's mostly laziness.

this.me and wifey cook 3-4 meals per week, only go out to eat on special occasions, fast food not being a choice of restaurant

It's too damn expensive and unhealthier to eat out.

^ That too. While I'm on my own in my uni room I can hardly bring myself to cooking something proper. I do eat healthy, but it's mostly fruit and vegetables, and some whole-wheat bread. It's very hard and not very efficient to cook for one.

I don't think people are becoming fat because they're lazy.
Rather, like the OP's suggestion, I think it does have to do with stay at home parents no longer learning the skills and passing them on.
The last generation was probably the worst one for learning to cook. There is little emphasis put on learning to cook, even simple meals.

While lazy can be attributed to not learning to cook themselves, when they've grown up with parents from a fast food generation we've lost even some of the most basic cooking kills to the point most can't even cook an egg... and for the rest, they don't even want to know where their meat comes from, except pre-packed in the chilled section of a supermarket.

This is a challenge to get people back cooking, giving them the power to do so. Unfortunately learning to cook yourself with no experience means you're going to be eating a lot of bad meals and usually wasting some foods before you get good enough to be confident to progress. This isn't lazy, this is more about use of money and produce vs the ease of access to what is known to them as 'food', be it fast food junk, or even microwave meals that they'll fall back onto.

You can pretty much bet that most grand-parents that are alive these days will have some recipe book passed down to them, or the knowledge instilled into them as they were growing up, and learning to cook along side their parent. Sadly this is no longer the case, and people tend to spend more time watching TV cooks on celebrity shows, such as hell's kitchen while eating a TV dinner.

People are fat because they are lazy, active people are not fat. This is a proven fact. People don't cook good home meals because it takes a long time and its boring, and you're right - nobody even thinks to look up a youtube video or simple step by step online recipe because regardless if they can or can't make it, it'll taste like crap compared to sugary fatty salty calorie-ridden fast food they've grown accustomed to.. Even if they are eating unhealthy they can still work out 19 hours a day to burn off the extra calories, but are lazy and won't even work out for 19 minutes.

Me and my wife both work. We also have a garden where we grow everything we consume, and also raise livestock. We swap cooking, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday she cooks. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday I cook. This has worked out for both of us, except in the beginning when the kids wouldnt eat what I cooked
I don't own a farm per say, just raise enough stuff for us and the neibours every now and then to live on. It works fine for us, and we love it.